1 month ago

LestatxRose thanks for the comment, i havent actually tried it at an FNM yet, i have only play tested it against some creature based decks and the games are close, (usually a loss before sideboard though), however if you are able to get your fumigate or enough Declaration in Stone's or Expose Evil's you can stall the board long enough to win anyway.

If you're playing with this deck at any sort of event, you're going to need a sideboard (up to 15 cards you can sub into your main deck between the two or three games in a match). The sideboard generally consists of cards that specifically hate on deck archetypes that you know will be at the event. Alternatively, you could also fill it with cards that counter cards your opponent might try and sub in against you.

If you ever consider splashing white, Declaration in Stone might be useful to you. It can get rid of the opponent's beatstick or it can sometimes give yourself a bunch of clues for the win. Bygone Bishop and Expose Evil could also be things to consider if you go that route.

Hopefully some of those suggestions prove to be useful. I look forwards to seeing your continued work on this cool deck!

3 months ago

The true viability of this deck will come down to the sideboard. This is a good deck for just drop and swing and I do have a couple suggestions for Main Board.

I would swap Declaration in Stone with Immolating Glare. While Declaration can be a great swing it assumes tokens and this deck will likely be swinging too early to worry about many tokens hitting the board. I would sideboard Stone for match-ups like that.

Ahn-Crop Crasher is a good card, but he may be worth lowering to 3 and upping Always Watching to 4. Since Watching is a key card it'd be worth guaranteeing it can be hit.

For the sideboard I would heavily consider 2 copies of Gideon of the Trials. He can become a 4/4 indestructible that Watching can pump, or be used to neuter powerful creatures. Also at 3 he does not increase the top of the mana curve. Expose Evil is another good cheap sideboard card. You can tap creatures early if they have ramp to swing in, plus get a chump blocker and card advantage. Repel the Abominable could be good in the sideboard for a general no damage if an opponent wants to swing all out or your creatures are exerted. Onward / Victory would be my final sideboard suggestion and it would be for games that may run later, but could be handy fast to seal a fate.

3 months ago

As for the deck itself, I feel there are some better options than what you currently have. Don't worry, I'm not going to be that guy that says "you should play Gideon" and end the post. However, Gideon is a house and probably should be in the 75 somewhere (Either Gideon really).

Anywho, Expose Evil isn't worth a card slot. It should be actual remove like Cast Out, Stasis Snare, Declaration in Stone or even Shock. Heroic Intervention should probably be in the 75 but probably not the main deck. Look at Blossoming Defense instead for the main deck. Glory-Bound Initiate should be a 4-of as it's one of the best cards in the deck. Duskwatch RecruiterFlip feels too slow and clunky. Plus he's not a human on the flip side which is unfortunate. Also Expedition Envoy isn't worth it if you're not balls to the wall aggro. You have a bit of both aggro and midrange which can work but can also, again, be clunky. Lastly, I think Combat Celebrant needs to have early haste in order for him to be actually worth it. Him coming down late with a Samut in play seems great but if you're curving out with him, not so much. Him having one toughness also really hurts and considering he's a 3-drop, you'll always play him off curve if you want to have him with at least 2 toughness with Always Watching .

Final Thoughts: If you want to do a human deck, I think it's best to go all out aggro with 16+ 1-drops with a curve maxing out at 3 or 4(Gideon). I think what you want to do, based on your card choices, is a midrange deck. I'm a midrange player at heart so I might be a little bias but I think, at least in these colors, midrange might be better in general. I've been working on a Naya midrange deck for a week or two now and it's really shaping up after a lot of testing. Check it out here. If you have questions about my deck, your deck or think I'm stupid, let me know!

Your heart is in the right place with the inclusion of New Benalia, however you are also playing 4 Evolving Wilds. This has potential to mess up your scrying. Scrying has a kind of value, there is interesting debate surrounding this topic Here

I would also cut Ghirapur Orrery, as it is much slower than the other card-draw permanents I mentioned. While Expose Evil, Bandage and Niveous Wisps do cycle themselves, if you implement some card-draw engine as I've suggested, you can turn a non-cycling fog into a cycling fog, simply by giving yourself another draw step. A cursory list of fog effects in white can be found here. Green also has a plethora of efficient and "playable" fog effects, if branching into another color interests you.

Temple of Enlightenment will help with the transition to blue/white immensely. Cards like Pentad Prism are your only realistic choice for mana ramp in these colors, which you will certainly find necessary in such a fast format as Modern. Take a look at some Ad Nauseam and turbo-turns lists to get an idea of what you might consider adding into your deck. Additionally, Boseiju, Who Shelters All is simply an auto-include, possibly as a 2-of in the maindeck.

I understand that these cards aren't necessarily budget but there was no indication that you needed a budget. I wish you the best of luck in brewing with this awesome win condition.

3 months ago

Holy Day, Dawn Charm, and Ethereal Haze are all decent fog effects. There's a bunch more if you branch into green (which would also give you access to better ramp), but I'm not sure you need to bother with that.

Eidolon of Rhetoric as your uncommon is nasty, and gives you a minimum of a 40% winrate against certain decks (with the number being much higher if you're willing to mulligan aggressively).

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